Aramco Team Series Sotogrande: Nelly Korda completes family clean sweep
Nelly Korda justified her star billing and completed a family clean sweep with sister Jessica Korda by winning the individual title at the $1m Aramco Team Series Sotogrande.
World No3 Nelly came from seven shots back overnight to win by three on 13 under par after carding a five under final round of 67 in southern Spain on Saturday.
Elder sibling Jessica, who led after 36 holes and led her quartet to victory in the team competition on Friday, could not do the double, slipping out of contention with a 77.
“I’m super excited to win,” said Nelly Korda. “I haven’t won this year, so it feels nice to get a win under my belt. But I’m also very sad as it wasn’t the day Jess was expecting.
“I guess we were hoping for a bit more of a battle going down the stretch, but it’s golf and that sometimes happens.
“I got a little unlucky on number two. I was right behind a tree in the fairway. I bogeyed that hole, so I was over par for the majority of the front nine, but I went on a little nice run.
“I had two turkeys [three consecutive birdies] on the scorecard, which was nice. I just stuck to it and told myself that there are a lot of opportunities out there and hopefully I can capitalise on them.”
It was a second win on the Ladies European Tour Olympic champion Korda, 24, who finished second in the New York leg of the Aramco Team Series last year.
Home favourite Ana Pelaez Trivino was one of three players to share second place after shooting a 69 to finish on 10 under par at La Reserva Club.
“I had a pretty good day out there,” said Trivino, who won the Madrid Ladies Open earlier this year. “I had a couple of chances on the par-fives to get the lead down to two and maybe convert the birdies, but it didn’t happen.”
Also in the tie for second was Pauline Roussin of France and Jessica Korda, who a day earlier had claimed the team title.
Korda led a side that also included Czech Tereza Melecka, Finland’s Noora Komulainen and amateur Malcolm Borwick to a one-shot win on 33 under par.
“I think we just really had a good vibe out there,” she said. “We tried to keep it as light as possible. It was a lot harder today.
“The wind was definitely up, so it was a bit tough, but everyone played and contributed. When somebody was out, another person had their back – the beauty of team golf.”